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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-WATERTOWN-MA · Watertown, MA 35,270 pop · income 88th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Watertown
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Watertown on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lima · lowest
43,370
Lima · lowest
43,370 median HH income
19.8% of the leader · rank #1
Catlett · near
123,403
Catlett · near
123,403 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #2
South Seaville · near
123,409
South Seaville · near
123,409 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #3
Watertown · this city
123,422
Watertown · this city
123,422 median HH income
56.3% of the leader · rank #4
Lake St. Louis · near
123,427
Lake St. Louis · near
123,427 median HH income
56.3% of the leader · rank #5
Dakota Dunes · near
123,438
Dakota Dunes · near
123,438 median HH income
56.3% of the leader · rank #6
Lexington · highest
219,402
Lexington · highest
219,402 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Watertown on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 35,270.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Watertown - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Watertown lands in the 88th percentile for household income and the 32nd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
88th
percentile, household income
94th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
32nd
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Watertown, MA
Massachusetts's Watertown is a small city, with 35,270 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Watertown households earn a median of $123,422 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.6%. Typical homes in Watertown are valued around $737,600, and the median resident age is 38.8 years. Educational attainment runs 67.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 68.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 9 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 97% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2012.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Massachusetts carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 105.8 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,261 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $330 across Massachusetts, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 19.2 minutes, with 49.2% driving alone and 26.6% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 78.8 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Watertown's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from work and mobility to housing and income to reported crime to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Watertown, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Watertown?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 49.2%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.2 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Watertown?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Watertown?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2012.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 12% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Watertown?
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Amherst (35,472 residents, $65,938 income); Randolph (34,683 residents, $103,129 income); Lexington (34,085 residents, $219,402 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hinesville, GA (35,282 residents); Brunswick, OH (35,284 residents); Calumet City, IL (35,253 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Watertown?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 67.2% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
5
Bachelor's degree+
67.2%
Poverty estimate
2.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share A+
67.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A
$123,422
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A-
2.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C
153 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
105.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Watertown profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 96/100 (A+) · 67.2%
Household income: 87/100 (A) · $123,422
Poverty rate: 81/100 (A-) · 2.6%
Violent crime: 58/100 (C) · 153 /100k
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Watertown sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Watertown's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Watertown highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Watertown, MA (this city): home $737,600, crime 2,012/100k
Hinesville, GA : home $174,300, crime 3,118/100k
Brunswick, OH : home $233,300, crime 449/100k
Lima, OH : home $95,900, crime 4,127/100k
Mount Vernon, WA : home $429,300, crime 1,966/100k
Amherst, MA : home $454,000, crime 467/100k
Randolph, MA : home $463,500, crime 1,135/100k
Lexington, MA : home $1,147,900, crime 387/100k
Franklin, MA : home $567,100, crime 383/100k
Holyoke, MA : home $255,300, crime 5,273/100k
Needham, MA : home $1,146,000, crime 699/100k
How does Watertown compare to other US cities?
Watertown measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income88% higher than other cities
Home value94% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety32% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Massachusetts, Watertown ranks #137 of 149 Massachusetts cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Watertown against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Massachusetts only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Massachusetts-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Watertown near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Watertown ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Watertown only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#64 of 233
73rd percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#42 of 240
83rd percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#158 of 247
36th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#35 of 247
86th percentile in Massachusetts
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Massachusetts only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
88th percentile nationally for median household income · 32nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Watertown's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Watertown's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Watertown's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$737,6006th percentilemore affordable than 6% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Watertown's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,082 of 15,516
More affordable than 9% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,958 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 6.0×, Watertown sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,082 of 15,516 and #2,958 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$123,422Watertown, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Watertown, MA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Watertown, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)67.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)68.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
35,270
Median Income
$123,422
Median Home Value
$737,600
Median Age
38.8
Poverty Rate
2.6%
Labor force participation
68.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
67.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2012.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
153.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1858.7
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
9
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
265
12
253
$55.0M
2020
163
15
148
$34.9M
2021
20
18
2
$5.6M
2022
44
10
34
$11.2M
2023
9
9
0
$3.6M
Permit volume decreased 97% from 2019 to 2023.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.2 minutes
Drive Alone
49.2%
Carpool
6.8%
Public Transit
8.2%
Walk
5.0%
Work from Home
26.6%
Other
4.2%
Based on 20,709 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Massachusetts statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $330
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Massachusetts at $330 (electricity about $160 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Massachusetts statewide averages, not a meter reading for Watertown. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Massachusetts's BEA cost-of-living index is 105.8 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Watertown is $2,261/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Massachusetts statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 78.8 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Massachusetts statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Watertown sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Watertown compares to similar-size Massachusetts cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.